That night, Ethan dreamt about the girl from the blue boat. Polly. He didn’t want to think about her, but he couldn’t help it. She was trapped inside his head, like a butterfly in a jam jar.

He knew it was just a dream because every now and then Merlin padded over his chest, her claws catching on his quilt. Then Ethan slipped far away, tugged back to his Polly dream.

Ethan was a knight in his dream, but he didn’t have a sword or any armour. Polly stood next to him on the towpath. “It’s OK, I want to be your friend,” she said. He wanted to run back to Deity, but his feet wouldn’t move. She reached out and gave him a big sword. “To make you brave.” She smiled. “One day you’ll get your armour, like a real knight. One day you’ll speak again. I can help you, if you let me?”

Gently, Polly tugged a red ribbon from his mouth. It scratched the top of his tongue, but she kept tugging and tugging. The ribbon stopped scratching and just tickled. Then there wasn’t any ribbon left in his mouth and with a flick of Polly’s wrist it rose into the sky and spiralled down into the water.

Ethan heard a meow. He opened his eyes and sat up. He was in bed. The dream had finished, but his heart was still racing. It was dark in his cabin. He turned on his lamp. His bedside clock said seven thirty a.m. Merlin jumped on his bed. Ethan heard a tap. He flinched. There was another tap. The taps were getting louder. They were coming from the window, opposite his bed, next to the bank. Someone was knocking on the glass. It must be Mum leaving to set up the market stall.

Slowly, Ethan sat up. He slid back the curtain. But it wasn’t Mum, or even Dad. It was Polly. He took a big breath.

Polly called out, “Open the window.”

He stared at her. Why had she come?

She shook her head and laughed. “You need to open the window.”

Ethan didn’t move. His head was still full of the dream. Was he awake?

Polly pointed to the catch above the glass. She had freckles on her nose. “Please,” she mouthed.

He could do it easily; he could just open the window.

Polly wasn’t like the girls he’d met at school. She didn’t seem like anyone he’d ever met. Maybe the dream had been true? Maybe she really wanted to be his friend?

Ethan slowly reached up and tugged the catch.

He opened the window towards him, just a little. His face flushed hot. Polly pressed her hand against the glass and the window opened wider. She had coloured beads on her wrist. Her hand was small.

Polly bent down. When she stood up she held a white box and she slid it through the window. Ethan smelt a sweet, buttery smell.

“I made you these,” said Polly. “Take them.”

The box was warm. Polly took her hands away. “They’re really delicious.”

“Ethan,” she said, “that’s your name.” She was looking at the row of coloured letters hanging on the wall.

He nodded and smiled.

“Do you ever speak, Ethan?”

He shook his head.

“That’s OK. I don’t mind.”

He looked down at the box in his hand. No one had ever come to his window with a present before, not even Dad. It wasn’t even his birthday or Christmas. Polly had brought him a gift just because she wanted to.

“Buttermilk pancakes!” Polly smiled. “Enjoy them.” She swung her back to the window and disappeared down the towpath.

Ethan knelt back on his bed with the box in his lap. Polly knew he didn’t speak. She said she didn’t mind. And she hadn’t acted like he was strange. Merlin jumped up and nuzzled him. Dad didn’t believe in taking gifts from strangers and he didn’t like holidaymakers on the canal. Polly was a stranger and a holidaymaker. But she’d been really nice to him.

The bottom of the box warmed the top of Ethan’s legs and the sweet smell filled his cabin. Soon, whatever was inside might be cold. He lifted the lid and breathed a waft of sweet air. It was a pile of golden circles: a little stack of pancakes. He counted them: six. They didn’t look like Mum’s pancakes. They were thicker and smaller: the size of his hand when he stretched out his fingers. Instead of sugar on the top there was a pool of golden liquid trickling down the sides.

Ethan dipped his finger in the golden pool and pressed the top pancake – it was springy, spongy. He lifted his finger to his lips and licked it. He peeled a pancake from the pile and bit in, coating his mouth in a syrupy stickiness. Then he saw a little scroll of paper tied up with a red ribbon. It had been tucked behind the pile of pancakes. He lifted the scroll and unrolled it.

Polly had written him a note.

COME TO MY BOAT.
TONIGHT, FOR HALLOWEEN.
AT MIDNIGHT.

Ethan stared at the words as he ate another pancake. Polly wanted him to go to her boat. For Halloween. Tonight. He couldn’t, even if he wasn’t shy with strangers. Dad would never let him stay up that late. And Dad wouldn’t let him go to a newcomer’s boat without meeting them first.

But I want to go to Polly’s boat.

Other boats might pass by, but even if there were children on board, they wouldn’t be like Polly. She said it didn’t matter that he didn’t talk. She’d brought him a surprise present. She wanted to be his friend, just the way he was.

Ethan finished his third pancake and licked his fingers. There were three pancakes left for later. He rolled up the piece of paper, tied the ribbon around it and put it in his secret drawer. He got washed and dressed and hid the box in his wardrobe. He shut up his fold-down bed.

Mum had already left for the market as he’d thought and Dad had work today. There was a note from Mum on the countertop.

Do the next chapter in your
science book, love.
Back in half an hour.
We’ll have a lesson then.

Ethan sat on the stern deck with his back against his cabin doors and his science book in his lap. He wrote the answers in the empty spaces and tried to forget about Polly’s note, but the words kept fluttering around inside his head.

TONIGHT, FOR HALLOWEEN

Ethan looked out over the water. Polly was coming towards him down the towpath. He was glad. She was wearing a green hat and swinging a plastic bag. She must have walked to the little shop at the west end of the canal.

“Hello!” she called out. “Were my pancakes lovely?”

Ethan nodded.

“I told you,” Polly laughed.

Polly stopped at the side of the stern.

“Did you see the note?”

He nodded again.

“You’re doing schoolwork. What subject?”

He held up his science book.

Polly wrinkled her nose. “Literacy’s my favourite subject.”

Mine too.

“I love reading.”

Me too.

“I hope you can come tonight, to Halloween.” Polly nodded to her shopping bag. “I’m making tons of food.”

I can’t.

Polly frowned. She spoke softly.

“Halloween’s one of my favourite days, but it’s the first year Dad won’t be with us and he loves it too. It was Mum’s idea to leave home. Dad’s two hours away now.”

Ethan needed to shake his head, to tell her he wouldn’t be able to come, but he didn’t. He didn’t do anything.

Polly looked over at the water. When she looked back, her eyes glistened with tears. She sat on Deity’s plank. She leant closer. “Can I tell you an awful secret?” she said, her voice was almost a whisper. “I haven’t spoken to my dad since we left home a week ago. I said I’d call him, but I haven’t. He’s called Mum’s phone, but I haven’t called him back. I’m scared he’ll sound really upset. I’m scared I’ll be upset. Mum thinks I already called him.”

She smiled just a little. Her eyes looked carefully at his. “Now I let my secret out.”

Ethan stared at her. Polly had a secret and she’d shared it with him. No one had ever told him their secret before.

“Have you always lived on the water, Ethan?”

He nodded.

“I thought so.”

“Have you ever been to school?”

He nodded and his head started to swim.

“I don’t think you liked it,” said Polly. “Don’t be scared of coming to Moon’s End. We won’t try and make you talk. You’ll come.” Polly made it sound like it was true, but it couldn’t be. “Won’t you?”

What would a brave knight do? Ethan knew the answer straight away. He nodded. He couldn’t help it. He wanted to go to Polly’s boat, even though he wasn’t allowed. If he didn’t, she might never ask him again.

Did Moon’s End smell of burnt wood, like Deity? Did Polly fold out her bed every night? Was there a hole in her cabin roof where the rain dripped through?

If Polly was his friend, they could explore the canal together. He could take her fishing on the pond. They could go over the bridge to the wood. He could show Polly his cabin. Ethan smiled as he thought about it. Mum and Dad might be really glad he’d made a friend; they might forget all about school.

“Brilliant. It’ll be really good fun.” Polly laughed and her eyes danced.

It made Ethan’s hands tingle with nerves just thinking about going to Moon’s End.

Polly stood up. “I’ve got to go. I’m making a cake for tonight. Then I’m going to have a little sleep so I can stay up late. You better finish your science.”

Ethan ducked his head around the side of Deity’s stern and watched her go.

Polly turned back and waved. “See you at midnight, Ethan,” she said.